Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 18, 2023
Date Accepted: Sep 16, 2024
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Targeting Daily Positive Experiences to Improve Emotional and Functional Well-being in Adults with Fibromyalgia: Insights from the LARKSPUR Intervention
ABSTRACT
Background:
The use of digital technology in behavioral interventions for aging populations is a growing area of research that presents both opportunities and challenges. While these interventions have the potential to be more scalable and effective, aging adults may face barriers in accessing and utilizing these technologies.
Objective:
This randomized controlled trial investigated the efficacy of an internet-delivered positive affect regulation intervention, Lessons in Affect Regulation to Keep Stress and Pain UndeR control (LARKSPUR), in enhancing emotional and functional well-being among adults with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS).
Methods:
Ninety-five FMS participants aged 50 and older (94% female) were randomized to one of two conditions: (1) LARKSPUR (n = 49) or (2) emotion reporting/attention control (n = 46). At posttreatment and 1-month follow-up, participants completed 7 consecutive end-of-day online reports capturing positive events, pain, fatigue, positive affect, and negative affect.
Results:
Compared to control, LARKSPUR resulted in greater improvements in daily affective responsivity to positive events at posttreatment, including greater reductions in negative affect (bL – bC = -0.06, 95% BCI: [-0.10, -0.02]) and increases in positive affect (bL - bC = 0.10, 95% BCI: [0.02, 0.19]). Furthermore, across posttreatment and follow-up, LARKSPUR led to greater reductions in pain (bL – bC = -0.20, 95% BCI: [-0.36, -0.04], and fatigue (bL – bC = -0.24, 95% BCI: [-0.41, -0.06] following positive events.
Conclusions:
This randomized trial provides initial evidence that an online positive affect skills intervention can enhance emotional and functional well-being in aging adults with fibromyalgia. Clinical Trial: NCT04869345
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.